Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp are two iconic football managers which a passion for horse racing, but which footballing great has the more popular horses at Cheltenham Festival? Let's find out.
The 2024 Cheltenham Festival was a year to remember for both Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp.
The Manchester United legend, who left the club in 2013, had not just one but two winners during the four-day event.
Monmiral’s stunning victory in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle, which had a prize pot of £56,270, was followed up just 40 minutes later with the 17/2 shot Protektorat winning the Ryanair Chase – claiming a staggering £211,013 in the process.
Meanwhile the ex-Spurs, Portsmouth and West Ham United boss secured his first ever win at Cheltenham with Shakem Up'Arry in the Plate Handicap Chase.
Will Fergie or Redknapp be successful once again in 2025? Here's all you need to know about the betting data with oddschecker.
How Many Horses Do Fergie and Redknapp Have Running at Cheltenham?
On day one of Cheltenham, Sir Alex Ferguson's first horse ran with L'Eau de Sud in the Arkle. The horse finished fourth. Ahead of day two, there's still plenty of interest for the Scot.
Potters' Charm in the Turners' Novices Hurdle today at 1:20 and the horse has picked up the sixth most betslip clicks of any horse in the race.
Thursday things crank up for Fergie, with Caldwell Potter going in the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase at 2pm. Again, Fergie's horse comes in as the sixth most popular bet Nurburgring the most popular.
Protektorat will then run in the Ryanair Chase at 3:20pm, looking to defend its crown for the football legend. The horse has the second highest number of ante-post bets for this race, with Fact to File gaining the most.
Hitman is also in the Ryanair Chase but has a significantly lower share of the bets, around 1%, while Il Ridoto races in the Trustatrader Plate Handicap Chase at 4:40pm, although again, has a low portion of the bets.
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Despite success last year, Monmiral was declared a non-runner ahead of racing.
While Sir Alex has a packed scheduled, Harry Redknapp is relying on just a few horses to bring him glory
Redknapp was hoping to have Jukebox Man at the Prestbury Park event but had to pull out. The horse had received the fifth highest number of ante-post bets prior to pulling out.
Meanwhile, Redknapp will be hoping for another victory with Shakem Up'Arry in the Plate Handicap Chase. However, OC punters aren't convinced of another shock with just 1% of all bets going on the horse.
Similarly, 'Arry has Yellow Car going Friday's Novices' Hurdle, which has under 1% of the bets in an open field.
Who Has More Bets on Their Horses: Ferguson or Redknapp?
Given the sheer number of Fergie horses to Redknapp as you can see above, there's a clear winner on where oddschecker bettors are going, and it's with the trophy-winning Man Utd legend.
Over 2,000 bets have been place on Ferguson horses alone in the build-up and during the Cheltenham Festival. That is over 10x more than Redknapp horses in the same period.
But which managerial legend will have more winners? That we will find out in due course.
How to Watch Cheltenham Festival 2025
In the UK, you can watch the first six races of each day on ITV1, which is free to air. You can also live stream ITV's coverage via the ITVX app/website, again, free of charge.
The final race of the day will be shown on Racing TV, who are also showing every race at the festival
